AKRON, Ohio — More than 100 youth football players knelt in front of the white goal post, waiting to strap up their new helmets. First, they got a warning from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“You’ve still got to play the game by the rules,” Goodell said. “You don’t use your head as a weapon. You don’t use your helmets as a weapon. They’re there to protect you.”

Goodell took his message about player safety to the youngest level of the game on Saturday, attending a football clinic where players received new helmets through a partnership started by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.